LAKELAND - Florida Southern opened its 2012-13 season here Friday evening by dropping a hard-fought 89-85 exhibition contest to Saint Thomas (Fla.) at Jenkins Field House.
The Moccasins, who are ranked 15th in the Preseason Division II Bulletin Poll and earned 47 votes in the Preseason NABC/Division II Coaches' Poll, couldn't overcome 60 percent shooting by the Bobcats in the second half in falling in its only exhibition game of the season.
"It was a good loss for us as a basketball team," Mocs seventh-year head coach Linc Darner said following the game. "This will give us something to work on and will help us out as we continue to prepare for our season opener on Nov. 15."
The Bobcats, who led 45-44 at the half, used a 14-9 scoring run late in the second half to turn a 74-73 lead into an 88-81 lead. The run was keyed by seven points from Kevin Nunnally, who finished with nine points and six boards off the bench in the win.
Following STU's run, the Mocs pulled within 89-85 following back-to-back lay-ups in a span of 11 seconds by sophomore guard Cameron Vines (Columbus, Ohio), but could get no closer after Vines picked up a steal with seven seconds left. FSC wasn't able to get a shot up following Vines' steal.
"They (Saint Thomas) really got into a rhythm offensively tonight, especially in the second half," said Darner. "They are a good team and did some things we haven't had a lot of practice working on, but now we can watch it on film, learn from it and get better as a basketball team."
Senior guard Seth Evans (Marseilles, Ill.) did all he could do offensively to keep the Mocs in the game as he finished with a game-high 31 points on 10-of-17 shooting from the field and a 4-of-8 effort from the 3-point line. Evans scored 14 of his points in the first half. Prior to the beginning of the season, Evans was named a Preseason Division II Bulletin All-American.
In addition to Evans, Vines scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half and he added 11 rebounds, including seven boards after halftime. Junior guard Dominic Lane (St. Petersburg, Fla.) added 11 points and eight boards, while senior guard Jay Hubble (Pendleton, Ind.) added 10 points.
Floyd Battle led the way for the Bobcats with 21 points, while Kevin Hincapie added 20 points in the win. Dylan O'Sullivan chipped in with 15 points and a game-high seven assists and Lorel Beckford had 10 points, including scoring eight of them after halftime.
In the first half, neither team was able to gain much of an advantage until the Mocs used a 9-3 run to turn a 28-all tie into a 37-31 lead with 3:46 left in the period. The lead, though, was shortlived as the Bobcats used three straight three-pointers, including two by Battle to take a 40-39 lead with 2:30 remaining in the half. After freshman Dominique Williams (Haines City, Fla.) scored on a lay-up to give FSC a 41-40 edge with 2:18 left, STU closed out the half on a 5-3 run to take a 45-44 lead.
For the game, FSC shot 44 percent (30-for-69) from the field, but was just 7-for-24 (29 percent) from the 3-point line. In the second half, the Mocs shot 38 percent from the floor and 36 percent from downtown.
"As poorly as we shot the ball, we only lost by four points and had a chance down the stretch," the Mocs coach added.
STU, who is a member of the Sun Conference, shot 46 percent from the field for the game and connected on 60 percent (12-of-20) of its 3-pointers. In addition, they outrebounded the Mocs, 44-43 and held a 27-11 edge in points off turnovers. Both teams committed 24 turnovers in the game.
The Mocs will open the 2012-13 regular season on Thursday, Nov. 15 with an 8:30 p.m. EST game at Stillman College. FSC will open its home schedule on Tuesday, Nov. 20 against Puerto Rico-Bayamon at 7:30 p.m.
